1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and a system for setting processing conditions of a laser processing system such as a laser marker which performs processing such as printing or marking including characters, symbols and graphics on work with a laser beam, a computer program for setting processing conditions for a laser processing system, a computer-readable recording medium or device on which laser processing conditions are recorded.
2. Description of Related Art
A laser processing system scans a given scan field of a subject surface of works (work surfaces) such as components and finished products with a laser beam to apply processing, such as printing and marking of characters, symbols and/or graphics, to the work surfaces. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 for the purpose of providing a brief description of a configuration of a laser processing system by way of example, the laser processing system comprises a laser control unit 1, a laser output unit 2 and an input unit 3. Excitation light generated by a laser excitation device 6 of the laser control unit 1 excites a laser medium 8 of a laser oscillator 50 of the laser output unit 2. A laser beam L emanating from the laser medium 8 is expanded in beam diameter by a beam expander 53 and reflected and directed toward a scanning means by a reflection mirror. A two dimensional scanning means 9 deflects the laser beam L so as to scan a work W in a given scan field, thereby processing, e.g. marking or printing, the work W.
There has been known a laser processing system which is provided with a two dimensional scanning device 9 as shown in FIG. 2. The scanning device 9 comprises a pair of galvanic mirrors which form an X-axis scanner 14a and a Y-axis scanner 14b, and a pair of galvanic motors 51a and 51b to which the galvanic mirrors are mounted for rotation. The X-axis scanner 14a and the Y-axis scanner 14b are arranged so that their axes of rotation perpendicularly intersecting with each other and deflect an incoming laser beam so as to scan a scan field in X and Y directions perpendicularly intersect with each other. The scanning device 9 is provided with focusing means such as an fθ lens system for focusing the laser beam in a given scan field.
There has been known a laser processing system which is provided with a three-dimensional scanning device 14 as shown in FIG. 3. The scanning device 14 comprises a Z-axis scanner comprising a motor driven lens system capable of varying its focal distance which is referred to as a working distance in a direction of height of the work.
It is usual to use a computer program in order to create three dimensional laser processing data for implementation of three dimensional processing, such as three dimensional printing, by the laser processing system. However, because the three dimensional processing data requires a greater number of parameters regarding print locations as compared with two dimensional processing data, it is hard for users experienced only in creating two-dimensional laser processing data to create three dimensional processing data by use of the laser processing data setting program just as they intended.